Three-time world champ Alison Sydor gets Canadian Hall of Fame nod

Canada's Alison Sydor was dominant on the mountain bike circuit during the 1990s.

Olympic silver medalist and three-time UCI world champion Alison Sydor will be inducted into Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame later this year.

Sydor, who raced in both the mountain bike and road cycling disciplines, sports a long list of other accomplishments, from victories at the Pan-American Games to twice receiving the Velma Sprinstead Trophy, given to Canada’s top female athlete each year.

The induction ceremony will take place in Toronto on October 16.

“We congratulate an outstanding athlete who has blazed the trail and inspired a whole new generation of women cyclists,” said Greg Mathieu, Chief Executive Officer and Secretary General of Cycling Canada via a press release. “Today, thanks in part to the outstanding work done by Alison Sydor, Canada’s mountain bike program is known to be a powerful threat at any international competition.”

Sydor, who was inducted into the Mountain Bike Hall of Fame in 2007 and the British Columbia Sports Hall of Fame a year later, grew up in Edmonton and was raised in Calgary. She attended the University of Victoria on Vancouver Island and began cycling at age 20. Within a few years, her talent on the bike was evident and she moved up to the national and international levels.

She won the bronze medal in the road race at the 1991 UCI World Championships before switching over to mountain biking. In that discipline, Sydor won three straight world titles from 1994-96.

Sydor represented Canada at three Olympics — in 1996, 2000, and 2004 — and her best result was a silver medal in mountain biking at the 1996 Games. She was fifth in 2000 and fourth four years later. Other highlights of her career include three medals (two gold, one silver) at the Pan-American Games and silver and bronze medals at the Commonwealth Games.